Art & Apathy Shoot – Jerusalem Hip Hopping
Steve Sabella
Visiting a photographer who prints on rocks was a treat. His entire frenetic being was lovely. His home, his family, his work, his creative drive. He is one to watch – his eye is subtle, ghostly, colorful and at times stark in raw beauty.
Dagnahash Concert
Later, we shoot hip hoppers Dagnahash at a small club, packed with bouncing Israelis. The encore is a song I only can refer to as “the bumper sticker song”. It’s their local hit – about the bumper stickers for and against the removal of settlers. Blue and orange. Pick a stripe, it seems. Their opening band, Funset, was fronted by a belting beauty who mop of golding curls bounced to her soulful middle eastern patois. Very unique.
Guy Elhanan
The next day, our first HD shoot. We meet with filmmaker and painter Guy Elhanan. He speaks candidly about his time in the army and what it did to him emotionally, artistically. His has not painted since. But he writes, he creates theater and now, film. One day, perhaps, he will pick up the brush again. I am stung by a yellow jacket for the first time in my life nearing the end of his interview. It stings for minutes, disrupting the description of a coin. As it fades, we drive to Tel Aviv.
Cooloolosh Brass Section
We shoot another band, small, barely lit club – Coolooloosh. Fronted by Rebel Sun, from Baltimore, this funk jazz Israeli hip hop fusion brings the bar crowd to their feet. The music is stomp happy but I have so little light. Perhaps more later? Perhaps…
The Crazy Chickpeas
Nira and Jessica, producer and director respectively, arrange, cajole, introduce, charm, trust, sing, and bring far too much StrongBadness into my psyche. We are mutually blessed – we all want art to mean more than a cross section of masturbation and self-flaggelation. They coax the pearls from these ancient shores. The voices they bring forth are astounding, heart breaking, compassionate, complex, fresh, old, sweet, bitter and juicy.
Tomorrow, we shoot from the air.
:) melissa
